Storytellers

Stories are lies. As Tim O'Brien wrote in The Things They Carried, true stories are lies also. And moreso.

That's because story telling is lying, even if the story is true. Ultimately, it boils down to the truth that story tellers are liars. Unpack that one.

The story teller looks you in the eyes and bares his soul. He makes you feel that he is speaking only to you, yes, YOU, and when he turns his back and walks towards someone else, you are convinced he is still thinking of you. He has you wrapped up and rapt, the balance and flow of his words moves you in a way that has you held fast.

He is at once a child -- a voice innocent, walking into the world for the first time, seeing it as you do, fresh and adventurous and fearful, and still the sage, with the wisdom of experience and the experience of wisdom, comforting you that the world goes on. He reminds you that the whole world is a story, a lie, a blanket and he suffers it and celebrates it with you.

The story teller spins a tale when there is no one there to hear it because the story must be told and the lie waits for no audience. The story teller needs to tell his story more than he needs anyone to hear it so he finds his medium wherever it lies.

More important than the look in the eye of a listener is the setting free of a story to breathe on its own. So the story teller speaks to the void because with his stories he is never alone until he is.

To know that every moment is a story for tomorrow and that each second is a first step forth, the story teller collects and arranges and breathes feelings into narrative. Where there was only life, now there is soul. 

He measures words understanding that the life of a lie hangs in the balance of each phrase. He risks losing the ears and hearts so each syllable has to be considered and each pause, an effect.

But later, when all is quiet and the story has ended, the story teller is empty. His story is no longer his and he belongs to no one. He is the lie of his story. When that story becomes the province of the world he finds a life in having given himself over and his lie, shared with all, has the chance to define a new truth for them to tell to others.

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Inspirations

The Things They Carried

A word is dead

Constantly risking absurdity

Julius Caesar